Anthony Allega Inc. Cement Contractor

Anthony Allega Inc.’s embrace of the latest technology and methods allows it to maintain its status as a top paving contractor. By Jim Harris

For Anthony Allega Inc. Cement Contractor, having 70 years of history does not mean being stuck in the past. “We are a very technologically sound company; we’re up to speed on everything,” says Jim Allega, vice president and co-owner of the Valley View, Ohio, company.

The company has long used state-of-the-art equipment and methods to complete its paving projects. This includes its use of the stringless trimming method since 1998. The company today continues to perform stringless paving and uses state-of-the-art equipment including pavers and trimmers.

“If you don’t keep updating your equipment and technology, you will fall behind, and the next thing you know you’re not going to be around,” Allega says. “We don’t own one piece of equipment that is not GPS-capable.”

Anthony Allega Inc. also uses advanced software from HCSS to track its equipment maintenance, fuel, labor and other costs. “I can tell you how much money we’re making per hour on our jobs,” he adds. “I can look at every job every day and tell you how I’m doing at each.”

In addition to the equipment and software it purchases from other companies, the company also uses technology and methods developed internally by Allega and other staff members. “We’re always trying to find a better, faster, easier way to do things,” Allega says.

Anthony Allega Inc. holds several patents for devices including a bracket that attaches signs to easels, a two-part epoxy injection machine and a device that moves barrels in and out of traffic. “With that machine, we can open and close a road within minutes,” Allega says.

The company’s recent innovations include a machine that uses GPS technology to quickly create site layouts. “Using this machine, we can create layouts that would take a survey crew four to six hours to do in just 20 minutes,” he adds. “When people see this machine, they are astounded by how well it works.”

Road and Runway Masters

Anthony Allega Inc.’s technological acumen and the experience of its staff help it maintain its standing as one of Ohio’s largest paving contractors.

The company serves as the prime contractor on most of its projects, though it also works as a specialty contractor for other companies. Anthony Allega Inc. specializes in roads and runways, but can also complete parking lot, site work and utility projects. “We can handle dirt, sewer and water lines, and asphalt – every single thing related to roads and runways, we can do,” Allega says.

Although the company prides itself on its full-service capabilities, Anthony Allega Inc. also works with a regular base of vendors. “If you don’t have good vendors, good suppliers and good subcontractors, you’re in trouble,” Allega adds. “We’ve been working with many of the same companies hand-in-hand for a long time.”

Anthony Allega Inc. is licensed in its home state as well as in Delaware, Florida, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. The majority of the company’s clients are federal and state agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration and state departments of transportation. Its private clients include Boeing, Allega says.

In addition to its paving work, the company operates a building construction division that offers concrete foundation and site work as well as underground utility installation, masonry and structural steel, roofing and interior build-out services. The division builds commercial as well as industrial facilities.

Jim Allega’s father, Anthony, founded the company in 1947 as a residential sidewalk and driveway paver. Anthony Allega retired from full-time work in 1977, leaving the company in the hands of his three sons. Jim Allega’s brothers Joe and John are also involved in the business. John Allega and their nephew Dan run the building division and handle all the estimating and administrative duties while Joe and Jim Allega oversee the company’s heavy civil projects.

Anthony Allega Inc. is part of the Allega family of companies, which include Allega Concrete Corp., a ready-mix concrete producer; Allega Recycled Materials & Supply Co., which operates multiple aggregate facilities; Union Sand and Supply Corp., a full-service builders shipyard. The family also operates a trucking company, an asphalt division and Allega Construction Management (ACM), a construction management division.

Making Tough Jobs Easy

Anthony Allega Inc.’s experience and use of the latest technology help it perform a number of complex jobs. “We can make a tough runway job look easy,” Allega says, noting the company’s recent work on a Boeing facility in Charleston, S.C., included overlaying existing runways to create new runway profiles.

The company in April began work on the expansion of an 8,000-foot runway at Northeast Ohio Regional Airport in Jefferson, Ohio. The project includes removing and replacing the runway and extending it by 800 feet. The project also includes paving three taxiways. Allega estimates the company will move 250,000 yards of dirt and more than 30,000 tons of asphalt and place 4,000 feet of sewer line during the course of the project.

The project has a 90-day turnaround. A flight check on the expanded runway is scheduled July 5. “You do not miss a scheduled flight check, ever,” Allega adds.

The company’s ongoing paving projects include work on Interstate 271 in Ohio and on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Current runway projects include work at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del.; and at the Charleston International Airport and Charleston Air Force base, both in Charleston, S.C.

Ongoing commercial projects include the construction of a 176,000-square-foot maintenance facility at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

Jim Allega and his siblings are closely involved in each of the company’s projects. “My brothers and I are very active daily in our business; we are physically out there running our company,” Allega says. “I am not the kind of guy who just hires a bunch of people and lets them go out there to do everything for me. This is why we’re successful and able to make more money on a job than other companies, because we are on the job every day in some way.”